The League has had a great run so far. In what started as a small cult show on FX, the series has grown to become a six season long force that became one of the big shows that was used to make FXX a thing when the network was formed (before The Simpsons took it over). It also had one of the most passionate fan bases out there. People flocked to the Empire Stage for this screening and Q&A, and the entire thing was essentially one massive party. The fact that the full cast was there to enjoy it with everyone was the icing on the cake.
After the audience got warmed up, The League creator Jeff Schaffer came out to screen a future episode. It was a rough cut, but the general story was Kevin MacArthur (Stephen Rannazzisi) has to prove his masculinity to Jenny’s (Katie Aselton) father. Andre (Paul Scheer) meanwhile wants to open a wine bar with Russell Deramo (Rob Huebel) but it doesn’t go as he planned. It was as hilarious as you’d expect and it got everyone sufficiently excited for the new season.
Once the cast came out, they were more than willing to offer several tantalizing details about this season. One detail that really got people pumped was how Andre adopts a cat this season and names her M’lady. He gets completely invested in this cat’s life and even brings her to a day spa. The creators also talked about how Bobby Lee’s Chu, a “frittata,” will come back at some point during this season, which got the crowd screaming with excitement. Always in touch with current sports events, they plan to focus an episode on the Ray Rice incident. Considering how nightmarish the NFL has been this year, one can expect a lot of coverage. The screened episode focused a lot on the Washington Redskins fiasco, for example.
The Q&A session gave us a lot of insight into the cast as well. They all went through their favorite episodes and openly joked about how there was a young kid in the panel listening to a lot of really vulgar stuff. One big takeaway I got from this was how Jon Lajoie, a Canadian, apparently still knows nothing about the NFL but has beaten Rannazzisi several times in their league. It turns out that Mark Duplass was the big winner for them as well, which is something the actor clearly holds with pride.
One fan did ask a great question that the cast was very intrigued in: what do these characters do in the offseason? As any viewer knows, this show takes place primarily during the football season. They even film it then to keep the events current. As it turns out, what happens during the offseason is actually something the creators and cast might want to focus on in the future.
Want to get even more of The League? Check out for our “The League Wednesdays” interview series with the cast and creators which begins today! There you’ll learn all about the upcoming season, the show’s future,and what makes each character “tick.”
